After her mother is hospitalized, a young Native Hawaiian woman struggles to find comfort and belonging in her grieving family due to differences in faith.
Set in the present day on the island of Oahu, Riley and her mother Mehana do a Native Hawaiian cultural ceremony together for Winter Solstice. It’s a moment full of love and light. That warmth is shattered when we jump forward to a hospital, where Mehana now lies unconscious, kept alive by machines. As Riley and her younger sister Kailana struggle to process the crisis, Riley watches Kailana turn instinctively to her Christian faith for comfort, a belief system Riley does not share.
Riley seeks solace in Hawaiian spiritual practices. She attempts to do a ceremony with her mother until other family members disrupt her to hold a Christian worship session. Feeling alienated in a family united by a faith she cannot claim, Riley storms out in the middle of the prayer. Their father David later urges her to put her faith in God. Frustrated, Riley and her sister begin to bump heads.
When her mother’s condition worsens, Riley spirals into panic and finds herself standing before a church. She enters, desperate to feel something — anything — that might help her bridge the gap between her and her family. But the belonging she searches for never comes. Only after returning to the hospital grounds and encountering an ancestor, does Riley reclaim her own spiritual voice through chanting. The release grounds her. Re-centered, she returns to her family mid-worship and finds her sister struggling with her own grief. She takes Kailana’s hand and remains beside her, choosing love over division.
Native Hawaiian filmmaker Erin Lau explores empathy, redemption, and legacy through her work. She has been supported by numerous programs including Sundance Institute, Film Independent, Tribeca Studios, and Ryan Murphy’s HALF Initiative. Her work spans documentary, narrative, and episodic storytelling, which have been featured on the Criterion Channel, Netflix, and PBS. Notable directing works include THE MOON AND THE NIGHT, ALL I EVER WANTED, and INHERITANCE. Erin also directed on FOX’s lifeguard drama RESCUE: HI-SURF and contributed to multiple award-winning documentaries as a producer including STANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS and DEAR ALOHA.
Erin is a graduate of Chapman University’s MFA directing program and is represented by the United Talent Agency (UTA), Entertainment 360, and LINK Entertainment.
Visionary Justice Story Lab 2026 - Narrative Justice Filmmaker Awardee
Producer - Jana Park
Cinematographer - Michael Tanji
Editor - Sara Cintrón
